Car-door.



G. H. SMITH.

CAB. DOOR.

APPLIUATION FILED MAR.26, 1912.

1082450' Patented Dec. 23, 1913.

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GAR DOOR.l I APPLICATION FILED MAIL26, 1912. ',O82,450 Patented Dec. 23,1913.

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GEORGE H. SMITH, 0F BELIANCE, SOUTH DAKOTA.

CAR-DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

AppIication filed March 26, 1912.

Patented Dec. 23, 1913. Serial No. 686,264.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Re liance, in the county of Lyman and State of South Dakota,have invented new and useful Improvements in Car-Doors, of which thefollowing is a specification.

An object of the invention is to provide a door for cars, particularlyadapted for use on freight cars of that type which are adapted for theconveyanceof grain and the like.

The invention embodies among other features a car door which is arrangedto slide within the car so that the same can be swung into inoperativeand open position beneath the roof of the car without interfering withthe operation of unloading the contents of the car.

A large number of car doors now employed in connection with freight carsand the like are arranged to slide along one of the walls of the car andin arranging a door in this manner the wall of the car is greatlyweakened and the door and its mountings being exposed to the elementsdoes not operate smoothly and in a short time is unfit for further use.The usual method, however, of closing cars carrying grain and the like,is to provide planks so arranged as to extend across the opening toclose the same. When the grain is unloaded from the car these planks areremoved and discarded and consequently each time that the car is filledwith grain, it is necessary to provide new planks, thus incurringconsiderable expense for providing suitable lumber to accomplish thedesired result.

Vith the use of my device the above mentioned discrepancies are avoidedand the door is mounted to move Within the car when the door is openedso that the door and its mountings will not be exposed to the elementsand the door being so mounted will not weaken the walls of the car,while at the same time the door can be easilyk moved into open or closedposition, the closing movement of the door being gravitational.

In the further disclosure of the invention, reference is to be had tothe accompanying drawings constituting a part of this specification, inwhich similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in allthe views, and in which r- Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of acar showing my device applied thereto, the door being in closedposition. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken on theline 2 2 in Fig. 1, showing the door in open and locked position. Fig. 3is a similar vertical transverse sectional view showing the door inpartially open position. Fig. et is a fragmentary plan view of the car,the roof being removed therefrom to show the door in closed position.Fig. 5` is a fragmentary vertical transverse sectional view of theguides on the under side of the door body, showing the retaining membersthereof for retaining the door body on the track. Fig. 6 is a sectiontaken on line 6-6 of Fig. 2; Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of oneof the guide members.

Referring more particularly to the views, I provide a car 10 providedwith the usual opening 11 and secured to the under side of the roof 12of the car 10 are depending guide rods 13 provided at their lower endswith enlarged heads 14.

Mounted to slide and to turn on the guide rods 13 is a track, comprisingslotted bars 16, the guide rods 13 being extended through the slots ofthe said bars and the said track being prevented from disengagement withthe said bars by the enlarged heads 14 thereof, the slots in the bars 16being made sufliciently long to permit of swinging and sliding thetrack. A cross piece 17 is secured to the forward ends of the bars 16and terminates in extensions 18, extending beyond the longitudinalplanes of the bars 16, the mentioned extensions 18 being adapted toengage suspending member 19, secured to the under side of the roof 12 ofthe car 10, the said suspending member being preferably made of a springlike material and terminating at their lower ends in hooks, which whenengaged by the extensions 18 will retain the track in suspended orinoperative position.

The extreme forward ends of the bars 16, which together with the crosspiece 17 form the track, are formed into heads 21 movable over guidemembers 22, secured to the inner side of the car 10, on both sides ofthe opening 11 thereof, the lower ends of the guide members beingprovided with stop lugs 23 for limiting the downward movement of theforward ends of the bar 16.

Mounted to slide upon the track is a door body 24, consisting of boards25 provided With guide members 26 on the lateral or vertical edgesthereof, the said guideA members being arranged to form hinges 27 whichhingedly connect the boards to form the door body 24, the outer edges ofthe guide members 26 being arranged to engage the inner edges of t-hetrack to permit of sliding the door body 24 longitudinally on the bar 16and preventing the dislocation of the door body upon the track;retaining members 28 being mounted to extend from the guide members 26to pass beneath the bars 16 and arranged so that portions of the bars16, forming the track will lie between the door body 24 and theretaining members 23 without prevent-- ing a sliding movement of thedoor body upon the track, the mentioned guide inembers 2S being providedto prevent the door body 24 from being lifted from the track as will behereinafter more fully disclosed.

The door body 24 is provided with a handle 29 and formed in the edges ofthe walls of the car, which form the opening 11, are grooves 30 adaptedto receive the body 24 when the same is gravitationally moved intoclosed position, the upper ends of the grooves 30 being arranged toterminate at the points where the forward ends of the slotted bars 16repose, when the mentioned bars are in lowered position and reposingupon the stop lugs 23. The lower edge of the door body 24 is providedwith a suitable reinforcing strip 31 and the handle 29 of the door bodycan be suitably fashioned to form a staplelike member, which will lieadjacent a stirrup 32, secured to the wall of the car 10, when the doorbody is in closed position, so that a suitable seal or lock can bepassed through the stirrup 32 and the staple-like handle to lock thedoor body in closed position.

Assuming that the door body is in closed position, when it is desired toremove the grain from the car 10, the seal or lock which locks the doorbody to the car, when the door body is in closed position, is firstbroken or removed. The handle 29 of the door body 24 is now grasped andby pulling upwardly thereon the door will slide in Ithe grooves 30 andmove onto the track, the forward ends of the track being in lowermostposition, it being understood that the door body in moving from thegrooves onto the track will bend or flex owing to the manner of hingedlyconnecting the boards 25, forming the door body; it being alsounderstood that the guide members 26 will facilitate the operation ofsliding the door body onto the track. When the door body is movedentirely onto the track, a` direct upward pull is exerted. upon the doorbody, thus causing the forward ends of the track to operate in the guidemembers 22 and as the door body is retained upon the track by theretaining members 28, when the upward pull is exerted upon the doorbody, the

track will swing upwardly with the door body and the track will alsoslide inwardly on the guide rods 13, the extensions 18 being` adapted toengage the suspending members 19, which fashioned from a spring-likematerial and provided with the hooks 20, will lock the track in itsuppermost position, thus also retaining the door body in locked and openposition so that the door body and track will lie immediately beneaththe roof of the car, thus in no manner preventing the proper unloadingof the grain from the car.

lVhen it is desired to move the door body into closed position, a.pressure is exerted against the suspending members 19 to disengage theextensions 1S therefrom and the weight of the door body, reposing uponthe track will cause the track to swing downwardly and to slide upon theguide rods 13 so that the track will assume an inclined position withthe forward ends of the track reposing upon the stop lugs 23, it beingunderstood that the forward ends of the track terminate at the pointwhere the grooves 30 commence so that the door body 24, owing to theinclination of the track, will slide along the track and move into thegrooves 30, the door body being thus adapted to move gravitationally andclose the opening 11 of the car 10.

It will be understood that do not limit myself to the use of my devicein connection with cars of the character described and that thementioned device can be also employed in connection with coal cars, binsor other vessels.

1. The combination with a freight car having its door posts providedwith guideways opening at their upper ends into the car to provideentrances thereto, a track inclined upwardly from the entrances of saidguide-ways, a door body slidably mounted in the guide-ways and adaptedto be moved therefrom onto the tracks, means 110 mounting the track sothat said track and the door body may be swung into a horizontalposition, and means adapted to secure the track and door body in ahorizontal position.

2. The combination with a freight car having its door posts providedwith guideways opening at their upper ends into the car to provideentrances thereto, a track inclined upwardly from the entrances of said12@ guide-ways, a door body slidably mounted in the guide-ways andadapted to be moved therefrom onto the track, means for pivotally and'slidably mounting the track so that the latter and the door body may beswung 125 into a horizontal position, and means adapted to secure thetrack and door body in a horizontal position.

3. The combination with a freight car having its door-posts providedwith guide- 13@ Ways opening at their upper ends into the car to provideentrances thereto, a track having slots inclined upwardly and forwardlyfrom the entrances of said guideways, a door body slidably mounted inthe guide-Ways and adapted to be moved therefrom onto the track, meanspassing through the slots of the track for pivotally and slidablymounting the track so that the latter and the door body may be swunginto a horizontal position, and means adapted to secure the track anddoor body in a horizontal position.

t. The combination with a freight car having its door posts providedwith guide- Ways opening at their upper ends into the car to provideentrances thereto, a track inclined upwardly from the entrances of saidguide-ways, a door body slidably mounted in the guide-Ways, and adaptedto be moved therefrom onto the track, means mounted on said door bodyfor retaining said door body in engagement with the said track, meansmounting the track so that the latter and the door body may be swunginto a horizontal position, and means adapted to secure the track anddoor body in a horizontal position.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE H. SMITH., Witnesses:

JEAN A. NORRIS, R. E. BROWN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington,

